Quality & Safety

Quality & Safety

CalvertHealth is committed to our community, with a focus on patient-centered care. High quality and safe patient care is not our goal, it is our priority. That means delivering the best possible care to every person, every time. We are dedicated to improving the way we do things on a continual basis.

CalvertHealth's mission, vision and values guide our decision making and shape the culture of our organization. The first “value” that supports our organization is Quality. It is the foundation upon which all of our values are based. CalvertHealth provides responsible, safe, reliable and effective care and services. We take pride in what we do. Click here to learn more about what we believe.

According to the HSCRC, CalvertHealth has the lowest mortality/highest survivability rate in the state.

CalvertHealth is recognized for having the lowest readmission rate among hospitals in the state. Although this average changes from quarter to quarter, CalvertHealth has consistently ranked in the top decile for the past five years.

Key Highlights and Achievements:

In the last five years, CalvertHealth has spent more than $55 million to upgrade technology, improve facilities and expand services. In 2016, the medical center implemented a new electronic records system – improving access, communication and care.

Recognized as a leader in airway safety initiatives by the American Association of Respiratory Care and The Joint Commission’s Leading Practice Library.

Earned the Health Quality Innovator Award for 2017 for our collaborative approach to reduce opioid addiction and prevent opioid-related deaths in our community. Our Opioid Stewardship Task Force was also named a Pioneer in Quality by The Joint Commission.

Received the American Heart Association’s highest honor for outstanding stroke care – the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award – for the seventh year in a row. CalvertHealth is also a designated Primary Stroke Center by the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS).

Core Measures

Our Quest for Core Quality program continues to be a source of pride for the organization. Our dedicated, multi-disciplinary team will not rest until we achieve 100% compliance for all our quality metrics. This year, our hard work resulted in exemplary care for our patients. Some of the highlights are as follows:

Attainment of benchmarks set by the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC) in 13 of 22 metrics

Improvement or 100% compliance in 8 of 10 metrics

Successfully implemented and reported on our first electronic measures

Recognized by the Joint Commission as a Pioneer in Quality 2017 Data Contributor for eCQM reporting

Stroke

Similar to our core measures program, our Stroke Team continued to persevere in providing excellent care for our stroke patients and their families. Not only do we have exemplary outcomes, we also have a strong support group for patients and caregivers offering support to patients and families after a stroke. Examples of accomplishments achieved in 2017 include the following:

Met or exceeded all benchmarks for quality outcomes related to stroke

Improvement or attainment of 100% compliance in 11 out of 15 metrics

100% compliance in seven of those metrics

Door to needle tPA time in less than 60 minutes was achieved in 89% of the cases

Readmissions

Calvert Health System intra-hospital, all-cause, non-risk adjusted 30-day readmission rate has dropped from an average of 10.2% to 7.7% over the past five and a half years, with the skilled nursing facility rate dropping from 21% to 13% during that same time frame.

Our CY17 inter-hospital, all-cause, risk-adjusted 30-day readmission rate target was ≤ 7.49%, which we met with a final CY17 rate of 6.84%, compared to a state rate of 11.58%